Lady Bountiful

Lady Bountiful

An exceptionally wealthy and generous woman, especially one whose generosity is (or is seen to be) a way of showing off her wealth in a patronizing manner. You've gotta love Lady Bountiful over there, coming down to the homeless shelter every month in her stretch limo and smiling for the cameras as she ladles out soup to the poor.

He [Southey] conceives that the business of the magistrate is not merely to see that the persons and property of the people are secure from attack, but that he ought to be a jack-of-all-trades--architect, engineer, school-master, merchant, theologian, a Lady Bountiful in every parish, a Paul Pry in every house, spying, eavesdropping, relieving, admonishing, spending our money for us, and choosing our opinions for us.

The best character in this series is not the social climbing Leona, nor the perennial cadger Charles, but a ridiculous Irish poet who appears in only one story, a "waif" invited to Christmas dinner by a smug Lady Bountiful.

I got a categorical assurance from Lady Bountiful that half price actually meant half price, and that we didn't need to incur half the national debt by ordering fifteen acres of glass for every door and window in the house in order to qualify for her largesse.

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